Tussah silkworm rearing, one of Yingkou’s signature industries, was introduced by Shandong immigrants settling here during the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty. The industry reached its golden age between 1915 and 1930. Records from the Gaixian County Annals note that in the 8th year of the Republic of China (1919), authorities encouraged silkworm breeding through incentives, registering 14,604 silkworm frames equivalent to an annual cocoon output of 10,613.2 tons.

Yingkou has a long history of free-range native chicken farming. Local native chickens have small heads and glossy plumage, with strong tolerance for coarse feed and disease resistance, yet low egg-laying rates and poor feed conversion efficiency. Every year, massive quantities of tussah pupae remain after silkworm processing. Farmers feed pupae to chickens, greatly improving egg quality, though native hens still produce few eggs.

After the reform and opening-up, Hy-Line Brown laying hens were introduced. Crossbreeding and selective breeding with local native chickens created Yingkou Tussah Pupae Laying Hens, combining the strengths of both breeds with stable genetic traits. In the late 1980s, a poet from Liaoning visited Nuanquan Town in Gaizhou and composed the verse: "I wander to Nuanquan, where mountains and streams grow ever fair. I chance upon pupae-fed eggs, whose lingering fragrance lingers in the ai